TOPIC: Foundry Networks vs Cisco ?

Hey all,


I have about 3.5 years expereince with Cisco switches, I'm pretty good with the CLI and Cisco fundamentals. Most of my knowledge comes from the CCNA ICND books, and courses. How hard is it to go from using stricly nothing but Cisco networking devices to Foundry? Please tell me it's not near as bad as switching from Windows to Linux. lol

The reason I ask is, I went to a job interview today, which I think went really well. Except for one minor thing, The employer mentioned that they are in the process of ditching all of their Cisco routers and switches in favor of Foundry.

If I did happend to get the job, and worked with Foundry networking devices, will I be able to one day go back to using Cisco with ease?

I have heard from others that have Foundry expereince they really liked it. The job I am applying for is with a large not for profit organization and I do not see them going away in 10 years. They have branches across the nation but as far as I know only this main one is going to change to Foundry. They will retain PIX Firewall's and some Cisco VPN's so I will have some Cisco interaction.

Basically I'm wondering if it would be better for me to hold out for a different job, (I have applied to a City newtork admin opening) for job security? Does anyone think Foundry will remain around for 10-20 years from now?

But I'm in the process of starting a new career and am just wondering if I should hold out for a different position in which they use Cisco. I understand in the end we're still talking TCP/IP here v4 and v6 will remain either way, but I can't help but feel uneasy.

Any input is appreciated.

Sorry this should have went into "Other" move me please :?

Thanks :wink:

Cisco is not the only player in the networking world. Try to get as much experieince with as many different manufacturers as you can.

Foundry, Extreme, Juniper, Force10 will all be around for years to come, so if you can get experieince with any of them, you are one step ahead of the next guy who only knows cisco.

the fundamentals are all the same, so its merely a task of learning the interface/cmdline.

Go for it and don't let the manufacturer of the devices they use make the determination of whether you take the job or not.

I thought Cisco was the defacto that most folks used? Is the command line completely different between these other devices then ?

I geuss it's like programming classes at university many years ago. Their principal was to teach you how to write good programmes regardless of which language you were going to use.

I've found that cisco is the defacto standard for corporate networks, but carriers usually need even higher performance and go with other manufacturers if it suits their needs better than cisco would.

The commandline differences vary... some are similar, some are completely different.

dude take the job all cli's are almost exactly the same - those who think cisco is the way are truly ignorant - yes they have largest product portfolio yes they are huge with regard to support people but they haven't released a new product in 8 years - the Nexxus is a completely new OS and all products are very proprietary - companies like foundry and others like hp and enterasys etc offer unbeatable network visibility via sflow - cisco certs are a dime a dozen if you are not a ccie and don't try to learn new things you might as well just fill out an application for home depot cart collection now....